Pre-tax profits at specialist student and independent travel firm Usit last year decreased by 65% to €239,380 as costs increased.

The families of the Irish students killed in a balcony collapse in the US have said the response of their friends to the tragedy is a testament to the bonds between them.

USIT, the student travel company behind the Berkeley victims’ J1 work visas, has reassured the families of those involved that their loved ones’ medical costs will be covered.

Lying 15km across the bay to the north-east of San Francisco, Berkeley is a popular west coast draw for Irish college students on their J1 trip to the US.

Pre-tax profits at specialist student and independent travel firm Usit have increased 20-fold to €686,270 in 2013.

A 12% drop in business last year contributed to pre-tax profits at specialist student and independent travel group Usit decreasing by 28% to €451,790.

STUDENT travel group USIT saw pre-tax profits fall 70% last year due to restructuring costs.

OZ-BUS, the overland service between London and Sydney, is back with a July 4 departure and the company says half of the seats for the trip are still available.

USIT, the student travel company, pushed pre-tax profits up by 115% last year to €2.14 million despite a significant fall in ticket sales.

MORE than 500 people are on the waiting list for Canadian working visas, just one week after they were offered.

STUDENT travel group, USIT saw pre-tax profits fall slightly to just below €1 million for the first time in three years.

IRISH students are falling victim to a scam sweeping America which is netting unscrupulous landlords thousands of dollars.

STUDENT travel company USIT swung into the red last year following a restructuring of the business.

The USIT Group, which collapsed with debts of up to €155m in 2001, would have survived had it not been for the attack on the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, a High Court judge has ruled.

SHELL’S network of Irish petrol stations and fuel distributors has been snapped up by venture capital group Ion Equity.

IT was dawn last Thursday week when Grace Forster first saw the unspoiled beauty of the island of Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania.

STUDENTS must pay higher subscriptions to the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) to help resolve a financial crisis that is forcing officers to work without pay.

TRAVEL operator USIT has gone on the road to promote a programme offering seasonal work visas of up to 10 months’ in the US.

Student travel agency USIT has reported an operating profit of €800,000 in 2003, compared with a loss of €3.3m in 2002.

A Garda told a murder trial today how he realised that an alleged double murder suspect captured on video footage was a man he had spent four days taking a witness statement from.

A jury in the trial of a Chinese national accused of the double murder of a student couple in Dublin two years ago has been shown video footage of the accused being interviewed by gardaí in custody.

Gardaí sourced a Chinese policeman through Interpol to act as a translator during their interrogation of a man accused of double murder, a jury heard today.

The Government has approved the proposed takeover of USIT by the world’s largest student travel organisation, STA.

The Irish-based USIT student travel company is likely to be sold because of serious financial difficulties.